I always find this conversation interesting...Couple thoughts..as I am a member and completely happy with it... 1) There is no doubt that the Premier membership comes with a lot of risks...primarily for me that it is indexed to Mexican Inflation which went nuts in the mid-90s 2)The biggest problem the resort has, is that their are so many different types of memberships...Some are probably decent, some are bad, and some were so good that RCI flipped out and they had to change the rules 3)The value to me in the membership is in the service I receive because we go a lot. Its not the liquor, or the value etc. 4)All that said. I have gotten 20% of my purchase price back in referral credits, in the first two years. AND when we go in high season we save 200+ per night. In the fall (ie labor day) its really even, and Im not saving anything. So I look at the positives, but understand those with doubts.
Man, I wonder how many times I've given this info.... Here's Stacia & I's boil-down. Getting Premier for use only at TTR is not worth the money, to us. We go perhaps 2x a year to TTR, and while it's Neat-O and cool to get the subtle upgrades in service and attion while there, that, in itself, isn't enough - not witht he specials that one can find online. However, the use of the weeks of the premier membership and the access to additional benefits IS definitely worth it to us as we go other places than TTR as well. For example, and this is only one example of the five I could describe for you that we've used/taken advantage of since we became members in 2012, last August I used/traded in a week of my/our TTR time into the SFX thing (San Francisco Exchange, which is like RCI Meets the Internet). I gave some unknown person that unscheduled/unrealized week at TTR in exchange for their week at the Maui Schooner, which is a condo place in Kihei, Maui, very close to Weilea and the McKenna Beach Park (where Big Beach and Little Beach (nude)) is. Typical price (the ACTUAL price I paid, more's the pity and shame on me) for staying at the Sheraton in Lahaina was $435 to $515 a night for what's an average motel room...for staying on Maui that trip. It was a trip where we were taking, for some reason, our daughter and her bf to Hawaii with us. I was NOT going to have the early 20-somethings cock-blocking me in Maui, so they get their own room. Prudent, right? Well... do the math. Call it $475/night (number important later). So, $475 a night for 1 room, so that's $950/night for both rooms, hey? $950 times 7 days in a week = $6,650!! Double-ouch! yes, I paid that, and yes, I'm stupid sometimes. Then, the next time (literally the next year, actually) we go back and take our friends Ivan & Sharon (CCC peeps, too) and we're giving them a marital celebration present to "furnish" their resort stay on Maui... which they originally thought I was just REALLY generous (not that damn much, sorry) but when I explained then they saw I was smart (well, at least I can learn when my face is rubbed in it the way Luis the Premier sales amanger did when he closed me on this exact point). Short story made long, trading in a week of TTR time, instead of paying the aforementioned $6,650 for the week I paid... wait for it ... $475 on top of trading in my week. Yes, the price of ONE room for ONE night at the Lahaina Sheraton got us a 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo in Kihei, Maui for the week.... I thought that was awesome, myself. And as stated, that's just one of five stories like that since 2012 I can quote you. So far, with our initial ~$18K premier membership price point, I have literally saved a direct ~$13K in travel fun and games. The thing is going to have paid for itself by this time in 2016 and then it's just gravy, i.e. "profit."
I have to completely agree with Stacia and John, I don't think it would be worth it if it's just used for TTR. We love the perks at TTR, but I couldn't justify that expense for those perks alone. We travel to key west for fantasy fest every year. The resorts we stay at are between $2500-$3000 for the week when we are down there. During the sales pitch, I told them that, they were able to book with world points for us and I only paid $1200 for the same resort I already had booked. For us it only made sense because we travel a few times a year and between RCI and world points, we've already made our money back. Btw, during the sales pitch they claim that you can save 15% off air fare with world points, they are full of ��. I've tried using it multiple times and it never works out for savings. I thought I negotiated pretty well, I did the lowest tier, but I should have held out for the yacht.
The jacuzzi room is just a regular room with a jacuzzi on the patio and a small bathroom. We were all excited to get one last trip and then we only used the jacuzzi once. Who spends that much time in their room?
We had a jacuzzi room our first trip, but it wasn't an outdoor one. It was an indoor ocean view room, with a big (easily fit 3-4 people ) jacuzzi tub with a shower in the ceiling. It was great, but so damn far away from the sexy pool. (Last room on the resort)
